Learn how to say the Korean phrase meaning "so-so" or "not very good"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Minkyong: 민경이랑 한국어 공부해요. (Mingyeongirang hangugeo gongbuhaeyo.) |
| Keith: Hey everybody, I am Keith. How Can You Tell Them It’s Not Very Good in Korean. All right, so you’ve been studying Korean for quite some time now. You know how to say yes, no. Well, in this lesson, you are going to learn how to say eh, so so, not really, kind of. |
| Minkyong: 에? 별로. (e? byeollo.) |
| Keith: So this conversation takes place at home and who is this conversation between? |
| Minkyong: The conversation is between a married couple. |
| Keith: So they will be speaking informal Korean. |
| Minkyong: 반말 (banmal). |
| Keith: Okay well, are you ready to hear eh, nah, not really, kind of, so so… |
| Minkyong: 네, 들어 봐요. (ne, deureo bwayo.) |
| DIALOGUE |
| 남편 (nampyeon): 여보. 이 코트 어때요? (yeobo. i koteu eottaeyo?) |
| 아내 (anae): 별로예요. (byeollo-yeyo.) |
| 남편 (nampyeon): 음.. 이 자켓 어때요? (eum... i jaket eottaeyo?) |
| 아내 (anae): 별로예요. (byeollo-yeyo.) |
| 남편 (nampyeon): 음... 이 바지 어때요? (eum...i baji eottaeyo?) |
| 아내 (anae): 다 별로예요. (byeollo-yeyo.) |
| 남편 (nampyeon): 음.. 나는 어때요? (eum... na neun eottaeyo?) |
| 아내 (anae): 별로예요. (byeollo-yeyo.) |
| 남편 (nampyeon): 뭐예요? (mwoyeyo?) |
| Seol: 한번 더 천천히 (hanbeon deo cheoncheonhi). |
| Keith: One more time, slowly. |
| 남편 (nampyeon): 여보. 이 코트 어때요? (yeobo. i koteu eottaeyo?) |
| 아내 (anae): 별로예요. (byeollo-yeyo.) |
| 남편 (nampyeon): 음.. 이 자켓 어때요? (eum... i jaket eottaeyo?) |
| 아내 (anae): 별로예요. (byeollo-yeyo.) |
| 남편 (nampyeon): 음... 이 바지 어때요? (eum...i baji eottaeyo?) |
| 아내 (anae): 다 별로예요. (byeollo-yeyo.) |
| 남편 (nampyeon): 음.. 나는 어때요? (eum... na neun eottaeyo?) |
| 아내 (anae): 별로예요. (byeollo-yeyo.) |
| 남편 (nampyeon): 뭐예요? (mwoyeyo?) |
| Seol: 영어로 한 번 더 (yeongeoro han beon deo). |
| Keith: One more time, with the English. |
| 남편 (nampyeon): 여보. 이 코트 어때요? (yeobo. i koteu eottaeyo?) |
| Keith: Honey, how is this coat? |
| 아내 (anae): 별로예요. (byeollo-yeyo.) |
| Keith: So-so. |
| 남편 (nampyeon): 음.. 이 자켓 어때요? (eum... i jaket eottaeyo?) |
| Keith: Hmm...how is this jacket? |
| 아내 (anae): 별로예요. (byeollo-yeyo.) |
| Keith: So-so. |
| 남편 (nampyeon): 음... 이 바지 어때요? (eum...i baji eottaeyo?) |
| Keith: Hmm...how are these trousers? |
| 아내 (anae): 다 별로예요. (byeollo-yeyo.) |
| Keith: They are all so-so. |
| 남편 (nampyeon): 음.. 나는 어때요? (eum... na neun eottaeyo?) |
| Keith: Hmm...how about me? |
| 아내 (anae): 별로예요. (byeollo-yeyo.) |
| Keith: So-so. |
| 남편 (nampyeon): 뭐예요? (mwoyeyo?) |
| Keith: What? |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Minkyong: She is very negative. I wonder how they dated before they got married. She probably said 별로예요 (byeolloyeyo) for everything. Maybe she is angry with him for some reason. |
| Keith: Yeah. Maybe she is angry but you know, we learned a nice word today. So so! |
| Minkyong: Ah I don’t know. I don’t like that word. |
| Keith: Why? |
| Minkyong: Because it sounds so lazy. |
| Keith: In Korean actually, that word actually does sound kind of lazy. |
| Minkyong: Yeah it’s like 별로 (byeollo). |
| Keith: You don’t want to make a choice like yeah or no. |
| Minkyong: Yeah it’s like 별로 (byeollo). |
| Keith: Eh! But I do think it’s a good word because most of our newbies probably know yes and no but nowhere in the middle, eh, not so great. |
| Minkyong: Yeah but it’s like no. |
| Keith: Kind of no, you know actually let’s get into that in a little bit but first, let’s take a look at our vocabulary. |
| Minkyong: 네, 넘어가요. (ne, neomeogayo.) |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Keith: All right, the first word we have is |
| Minkyong: 여보 (yeobo) [natural native speed] |
| Keith: honey, darling (between a married couple) |
| Minkyong: 여보 (yeobo) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Minkyong: 여보 (yeobo) [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Minkyong: 어때요? (eottaeyo) [natural native speed] |
| Keith: How is it? / How about...? |
| Minkyong: 어때요? (eottaeyo) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Minkyong: 어때요? (eottaeyo) [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Minkyong: 자켓 (jaket) [natural native speed] |
| Keith: jacket |
| Minkyong: 자켓 (jaket) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Minkyong: 자켓 (jaket) [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Minkyong: 바지 (baji) [natural native speed] |
| Keith: pants, trousers |
| Minkyong: 바지 (baji) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Minkyong: 바지 (baji) [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Minkyong: 다 (da) [natural native speed] |
| Keith: all, everything |
| Minkyong: 다 (da) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Minkyong: 다 (da) [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Minkyong: 뭐예요? (mwo-yeyo) [natural native speed] |
| Keith: What is it? What? |
| Minkyong: 뭐예요? (mwo-yeyo) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Minkyong: 뭐예요? (mwo-yeyo) [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Keith: Okay. Let’s have a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word we are going to take a look at is |
| Minkyong: 여보 (yeobo) |
| Keith: Honey, darling, only for people who are married, right? |
| Minkyong: Yeah. Unlike in English, you can’t really call your friends or loved ones 여보 (yeobo) unless you are married to that person. |
| Keith: So what about a term of endearment for your friends, what can you call your friends? Sometimes in English you say, oh hey sweetie, hey honey! |
| Minkyong: You call their names. When you have names for each person, why do you need something else? |
| Keith: Well, I mean you know just to be a little more endearing I guess but in English, sometimes you say that kind of stuff but in Korean, there is not really much. It is just between lovers and married couples. |
| Minkyong: Yeah, but like Korean people don’t call names often. So when you call your friend names like 민경아 (mingyeonga), it sounds very nice. |
| Keith: Well actually yeah maybe. I think I know what you are talking about because a lot of times you just say oh hey, yo! |
| Minkyong: Yeah it’s like always they don’t call me 민경아 (mingyeonga), they always call me 야 (ya). |
| Keith: Hey but if you actually use someone’s name 민경아 (mingyeonga) you actually hear your name, oh that was nice. |
| Minkyong: Yeah that’s what I mean. |
| Keith: Well, for some of our couples out there, not our married couples, but maybe our boyfriends, girlfriends, what can they call each other? |
| Minkyong: 자기 (jagi). |
| Keith: But once again 여보 (yeobo) is only for married people. |
| Minkyong: Yes. |
| Keith: Okay. Let’s move on to our next word. |
| Minkyong: 다 (da) |
| Keith: All, everything. How about some sample sentences? |
| Minkyong: 다 했어요? (da haesseoyo?) |
| Keith: All done? or Did you do it all? |
| Minkyong: 다 먹어. (da meogeo.) |
| Keith: Eat it all. And that’s a nice command. All right, well what’s our last phrase? |
| Minkyong: 뭐예요? (mwoyeyo?) |
| Keith: What is it? What? and how do you say “what is this?” |
| Minkyong: 이거 뭐예요? (igeo mwoyeyo?) |
| Keith: “What is your name?” |
| Minkyong: 이름이 뭐예요? (ireumi mwoyeyo?) |
| Keith: How about “what is that?” |
| Minkyong: 저거 뭐예요? (jeogeo mwoyeyo?) |
| Keith: Okay. Well let’s move on to this lesson’s focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Keith: So Minkyong, what’s the focus of this lesson? |
| Minkyong: 별로 (byeollo). "So-so" "Not Particularly" |
| Keith: Yeah, and this expression, you can use it on its own, 별로 (byeollo) means "so-so," and if you use it in negative sentences, it means "not so" or "not very." |
| Minkyong: So in this dialogue, it is used alone; 아내 (anae), the wife, said, 별로예요 (byeolloyeyo). |
| Keith: It’s so-so. Okay, so in one of our previous newbie lessons, we went over how to make a sentence negative. So how do we use 별로 (byeollo) in a negative sentence? |
| Minkyong: You add 안 (an) in front of the verb you are using and after 별로 (byeollo) |
| Keith: All right, well can you give us an example? |
| Minkyong: When I get a paper cut, I say 별로 안 아파 (byeollo an apa). |
| Keith: “It doesn’t hurt that much. Paper cuts hurt. I don’t know what you are talking about. |
| Minkyong: No, it doesn’t hurt. What do you mean? |
| Keith: They hurt a lot. |
| Minkyong: Or when my friends offer me something to eat, I can say 별로 배 안 고파 (byeollo bae an gopa). |
| Keith: I am not so hungry. One more time, what’s hungry? I am hungry? |
| Minkyong: 배고파 (baegopa). |
| Keith: And how do you say I am not hungry? |
| Minkyong: 배 안 고파 (bae an gopa). |
| Keith: And how about I am not so hungry, I am not very hungry. |
| Minkyong: 별로 배 안 고파 (byeollo bae an gopa). |
| Keith: Okay. So I hope our listeners get the difference there. All right, can we have one more sample sentence please? |
| Minkyong: 별로 안 좋아요. (byeollo an joayo.) |
| Keith: “It’s not so good.” How do we say it’s good? |
| Minkyong: 좋아요. (joayo.) |
| Keith: How about it’s not good? |
| Minkyong: 안 좋아요. (an joayo.) |
| Keith: And it’s not so great, it’s not so good. |
| Minkyong: 별로 안 좋아요. (byeollo an joayo.) |
| Keith: So if you are using 별로 (byeollo) in a negative sentence, I think more than so-so, it’s a little more negative. So if good |
| Minkyong: 좋아요. (joayo.) |
| Keith: Is at a 100% and not good |
| Minkyong: 안 좋아요. (an joayo.) |
| Keith: Is at zero percent, what would you say 별로 안 좋아요 (byeollo an joayo) would be? |
| Minkyong: Less than 50. |
| Keith: Yeah probably about 40 or so, around there. All right, so how did it come out in this dialogue? |
| Minkyong: 아내 (anae), the wife, said 다 별로예요. (da byeolloyeyo.) |
| Keith: They are all so, so and there it’s all – it’s actually kind of 50-50, maybe below that too. |
Outro |
| Keith: Well that’s going to do it for this lesson. Thanks for listening. 안녕히 계세요. (annyeonghi gyeseyo.) |
| Minkyong: 안녕히 계세요. (annyeonghi gyeseyo.) |
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